Tag: Blogging

I certainly don’t obsess about the stats associated with this little blog of mine which comes to you from Tramore, Co. Waterford which is in the South-East of Ireland.

However, my sociological self emerges every now and then for a perusal of the stats page. Today was one of those days and I found myself looking at the countries from which my visitors came this month. I was totally STUNNED to find that they came from 62 countries. The USA heads the list with Ireland second and the United Kingdom third. This tends to be how it is for me practically every month.

I’d never really looked at the full list of countries before, mainly because I’m absolutely hopeless at geography and didn’t even know until I checked this evening that there are 196 countries in the world.

It absolutely humbles and intrigues me that people from 62 of those 196 countries have landed on Social Bridge this month. There are countries that I would expect to see on the list because I know from people who have commented that they live in these places but what about the others? I’m wondering what brought them here. Were they here by choice or were they accidental tourists due to their planes, boats or broomsticks being diverted?

Just in case you come from some far flung place and haven’t a clue about Ireland ~ like I haven’t a clue about so many of the 62 countries that are on my October list ~ here’s a little overview.

As you can see, Ireland is an island at the very western edge of Europe. (Click on the map/s to embiggen, if you wish).

The population of the Republic of Ireland is 4,757,976, according to the Census which was taken on the 24th April, this year. Dublin is the capital of Ireland, and other key cities are Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford (which is just 8 miles from my home in Tramore town which has a population of around 10,000).

This finding about the 62 countries, even if I can’t be sure how reliable it is, has me seeing bridges extending from all these places with people approaching Ireland, and specifically Tramore, with smiling faces and outstretched hands. The bridge where I feel I meet the world is the little wooden one in my beloved Newtown Wood which is just out the road from here and which Puppy Stan and I cross every single day.

My Social Bridge in Newtown Wood, Tramore, Co. Waterford.

So, to everyone who has visited the blog in October, many, many thanks or, as we say in the Irish language: Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the global reach of YOUR blog, wherever you happen to be in this wonderful world which I’m determined to learn more about.

I’ve noticed Stan does a huge amount of existentialist staring out to sea. I want to be Stan.

I’m all of a dither after seeing this comment from a brilliant Irish blogger called Tara Sparling. (She writes about books but in the funniest way imaginable.)

Anyway, I had to go off an see what ‘existentialist’ means and my puppy brains are all mish-mashed after trying to get to grips with it. Why do people have to use such impossible words?

Here’s the first definition I came a across and I think it’s best that I stay at this point:

Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe.

This is pretty gobbledly-gookish, isn’t it? I’m wondering, though, if it’s gobbledy-gookish for someone to want to be me? The gas thing about thinking that I spend my time staring at the sea,or anything else for that matter, is that those are the only times that anyone can manage to get a photo of me. Staring time is about 1% cent of my waking hours (and 75% of my dreaming hours.)

The Existentialist!

Seriously, though, can anyone ever get to know someone else? I mean, people and puppies can come across in particular ways or as having their own little or HUGE foibles but can we ever know for sure what’s going on in their heads and their hearts?

I’ve heard Jean talking about a thing her father used to say and it’s stuck in my little head through a lot. He used to say to Jean when she’d be complaining about something: Would you throw your lot into the pile and take your chances with someone else’s? I can tell you one thing, I wouldn’t throw my lot in for all the dog bikkies in the world. You’d never know what you’d end up with ~ I mean I could be a poor little puppy that’s beaten and flogged every day and never given any food or fresh water and there are lots of puppies in that kind of mess of a life.

But, I’d say to Tara that she’d have a great time if she was me but it’s probably not remotely like the great that she thinks. I’d quite like to be her cos of her funny blog but I’m not taking any chances. I’ll just hang around here where I know I’m loved ~ existentially and every other way!

Being Me!

P.S. I bet you that Tara is going to win at the Irish Blog Awards that are being announced tomorrow night. Look out for her!

I’ve become acutely aware of how dependant I am on photographs when it comes to blogging. It’s almost like I feel I have to have an image to inspire me and another handful to illustrate every point I make.

Interestingly, this reliance on images tends to make other writing very difficult; somewhat like a kid trying to cycle for the first time without stabilisers on his/her bike.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this but I’m wondering to what extent image-dependence is an issue for the rest of you?

Now it’s half killing me to not add a photograph into this post. Just think of all the possibilities …..

It’s been quite a while since I last posted and I would like to thank all those who were kind enough to get in touch to ask if everything was okay.

It’s been a difficult period but the story is not mine to tell. I’m glad to report, though, that the sun is beginning to break through again, however tentatively.

The fragility of life has been at issue and it’s been a time of heightened sensitivity to everything that it is so easy to take for granted.

As always, the ebb and flow of the sea has brought immense comfort. While the world has seemed like a very uncertain and shakey place, the sea has continued to be its beautiful self – rising and falling at the predicted times.

Tonight, I would urge everyone to take time to count their blessings and stop, stop fretting about ‘stuff’ that doesn’t matter one weenchy bit in the grand scheme of things.

Ocean people are very different from land people. The ocean never stops saying and asking into ears, which don’t sleep like eyes.

(Maxine Hong Kingston)

Thinking about this quote this evening as I was walking along Kilfarrasy Beach, I got to thinking about the extent to which there is a similar difference between bloggers and non-bloggers.

It continues to be a source of amazement to me that lots of my blogging friends across the ocean will be blogging away merrily when I am fast asleep and that there will be a batch of surprise posts waiting for me when I wake.

There’s a kind of reassurance and comfort in that which I find hard to describe. Maybe, it’s the knowing that if I wake with nightmares in the early hours that I will always find a post which will bring me off to some other place far, far away in terms of either thinking or geography and make everything seem well with the world again.

More than two-thirds of the readers of Social Bridge are from outside Ireland and over half are from beyond Europe. I simply love that diversity and the range of time zones involved, not to speak of all the different individuals with their own histories and places to share.

March is well underway in places like Australia but only young on the West Coast of America. I sometimes look at the list of countries from which people read some of my posts and simply stare in awe. I’m no geographical genius and to see the names of small countries far, far away is a huge thrill. I wonder if these readers know as little about Ireland as I know about their countries.

These are the little things about blogging that keep me motivated. I suppose it all comes down to a sense of connection.

So Happy March Everyone and I leave you with this Irish blessing:

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun.
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches.
Today, tomorrow and beyond.

The more blogs I visit and the more WP themes I explore, it seems that bloggers are tending to be more and more engaged with a host of social media platforms from Facebook to Twitter to … goodness knows what.

I’ve taken quite a step back from all social media platforms over the last year or so. I’m still on Twitter and I’ve set my posts to go up there but as I don’t engage with Twitter for anymore than about 5 minutes per week, I’m not fully at ease with having my posts going up there.

All this has made me wonder to what extent people see blogging as a stand alone activity or as something that is almost inextricably linked to a range of social media platforms.

I see blogging as being qualitatively different to other social media platforms and I like the intimacy of it ~ or the sense of intimacy.

Somehow, other social media platforms make me feel headachy with all the traffic racing by. I want peace and quiet and not to feel like I’m standing in the middle of a big city at rush hour.

Where are you about putting your blog out there on FB, Twitter and the like?

The New Year has spurred me into action about changing the theme of Social Bridge. After much perusal, I have decided that Twenty Sixteen

Twenty Sixteen

is the theme I want to go for. One of the main reasons I like it is that it allows one to choose the colour of the pages ~ and not just black or white. (Maybe there’s all sorts of other themes that allow that but I haven’t found them.)

Anyway, when I started to investigate making the change, I got a dose of the dithers because it all seemed a lot more complicated than it used to be or else I’m suffering from hazy memory syndrome.

So, I’d welcome any words of wisdom you might have about making the change. My biggest fear is losing everything that’s already written or messing it round so much that it will be like a jigsaw that a puppy got at.

What I Want to Avoid!

I know some of you are absolute whizzes at changing themes and the appearance of your blogs ~ I notice with great envy when you carry it off with seeming panache.